What began as a blog about writing and publishing has become a blog of whatever I feel like writing. Jules Lucton.

Archive for the month “May, 2012”

I have rejected the idea of rewriting my old novels in favour of starting something new. Freshening up the old stuff would be a much quicker way of getting some more titles on my list but I really don’t feel like going back over old ground. A lot of it was written during dark times and, although the subject matter is not a reflection of the ‘darkness’, looking back at it stirs up memories and feelings that are unwelcome now that I am happier than ever before. Whilst not all the chapters of ‘The Rise of Serge and the Fall of Leo’ are entirely cheerful, I hope that the light tone of the narrative keeps the sad parts from being too heavy.

I am still at the research stage – making sure that the new story is plausible before I start writing it. This makes me appreciate how lucky we are to have the internet with so much information so readily available. Past projects involved Saturday morning visits to the library in a bid to get my facts right and I can still remember the satisfaction of coming home with a book that had a page or two on the subject I was researching. Now I have too many pages than I have time to read; about any subject under the sun. The sun is still shining. Pity about all the flies that come with it ;<)

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As a commuter on a busy motorway, I like to hear the local traffic news before I join the motorway and possibly get stuck for three or more hours owing to a closure a few miles down. If the timing is out, the traffic update comes on just as I’m going down the slip road; “And if you are travelling south on the M5 …” (said in an ominous voice) “then everything appears to be flowing nicely.” Yipee! But why even mention it if there’s no problem?

I have found the most up to date traffic information is provided by the overhead matrix signs that warn of delays, queues ahead, debris in the carriageway or planned overnight closures, but again, if there is nothing to report, don’t distract drivers by posting arbitrary messages. This morning’s message for the commuters and lorry drivers to read as we travelled in three solid lanes in dazzling sunshine was:

BIN YOUR LITTER. OTHER PEOPLE DO.

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This is something that I struggle with – writing about it without including gratuitous details or off-putting graphic references to body parts. Here are couple of snippets from books I have read that really don’t do it for me:

“maintaining his erection against her thigh, he lubricated her with his hand”

Sorry but Yuck!

“she felt the length of his shaft”

They were down a mine, right?

If I am reading a love scene, I feel cheated if the couple go off to bed and shut the door on me, but yet it can be cringe-making to be allowed behind the door.

As a teenager I loved the work of DH Lawrence and must have read just about everything he ever wrote – and how sensitively he wrote it! Yes, he could be graphic, but then the ‘C’ word in his day sounded okay. DH Lawrence also describes human emotions as they are, sometimes forsaking delicacy. His characters feel anxiety in their bowels rather than as a butterfly fluttering in the chest.

Many years ago I read Roald Dahl’s ‘My Uncle Oswald’ (and I might quote this wrong as my copy got passed on along with all the Lawrence books) but I still recall a scene where he is looking through a window and he narrates something like this;

“I am not a voyeur. The act of copulation is like that of picking your nose. It is okay to be doing it yourself but to witness someone else doing it is a singularly unpleasant spectacle.”

That cracked me up when I read it and has stuck in my mind since about 1990, and probably explains why I struggle with sex scenes and why I will never be entirely at ease with writing them. But I hope to keep practising …

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Sorry to change back the subject, but ‘The Rise of Serge and the Fall of Leo’ is now available as a Paperback (368 pages), in addition to Amazon Kindle format!

Dean’s book cover looks superb and Imprint Digital’s printing and binding is excellent. I really hope that what’s written on the pages is of similar quality – and I hope that you will read it and let me know what you think, either by commenting on this blog or by filling in the contact form on the top of this page or by writing a review on Amazon.

To link to the Amazon Kindle version (on Amazon.co.uk) click on the book cover image. It can also be purchased in USD from Amazon.com.

To order a copy of the paperback using PayPal -UK only please (owing to postage cost) click the ‘PayPal click here to buy’ button, beneath the cover image.

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I have finally submitted the PDF file to the printers, and the paperbacks are in the process of being printed. Whilst I’m looking forward to receiving them I am dreading discovering a typo the minute I look inside. Not that I ever want to read my BF book again – after all that proof-reading.

There are some books I wrote years ago that I could dig up and re-write; all of them completely different from the one I have just finished, and different from each other – or maybe I should try something new?

An issue I have with writing in my spare time is that it doesn’t leave much time for reading other people’s work, but when I decided to read something instead of jumping into a new project, I found I was still in proof-reading mode and was checking out the punctuation instead of enjoying the story.